Wanderlust
by JSB
Summary: Wanderlust: the urge to travel, never staying in one place for too long. This is the journey of a wanderer some wouldn't expect. Sort of AU, after FE7. This was for Link015's Story Contest. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

Well…I decided to write something different, hope you guys like it. I don't own Fire Emblem, or pretty much anything, so it is clearly not worth suing for. Most of my ideas will be coming from DnD, what a better place to get medieval type inspiration. This is for a contest that RLnaruhina convinced me to participate in, so, thank you man.

**Wanderlust**

It was a good day, slightly cloudy sky, low winds, mild temperature, just the type of day for travelers. It would also be the sort of day for bandits, catching a lone traveler who was distracted by their own comfort could be disastrous for traveler, which seemed to be the current situation. A group of three fighters had surrounded a lone teal headed boy, holding their axes at the ready to strike. Said teal headed boy looked wide eyed as he became surrounded, and let out a few curses at himself for being careless. Shrugging dejectedly, the boy quickly slipped what looked like flute from its hold between his back and his backpack, and dropped his pack to the ground at the same time. One of the brutish fighters laughed at what he was seeing until the flute was fully out. What they originally thought was a flute turned out to be an unusual weapon, at one end, it was a normal flute, but at the other end of the flute was a thick curved blade. The laughing fighter stopped laughing and started coughing at the sight of the deadly looking flute-sword.

The other two fighters gave a quick nod to each other and raised their axes to cut the boy down. The fighters didn't even flinch when they a quick combination of notes coming from the flute, and brought down their axes, only hitting the ground where the teal haired boy once stood. Both had noticed that their coughing friend had abruptly stopped coughing and looked up to see their friend on the ground with a large slash in his back. Again they heard music, and looked to see the boy doing a strange dance while playing the flute-sword, then started spinning in a single spot. Not being ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, the fighters started to rush the boy, failing to see the dirt-filled wind circling around the boy. Before they could stop charging, both were caught in the mini-tornado that had been recently formed around the flute player. The two fighters flew around in the circle of the mini-tornado, crashed into each other few times and had landed on the ground. Both had received many cuts all over their bodies, only one left conscious.

When the music had stopped, the mini-tornado had ended its existence, leaving only the teal haired boy, who was unscathed by the tornado. The burly fighter noticed the blade end of the flute-sword, dripping with a bit of red liquid which he deduced was his and his partner's blood. "H-h-How?" the Brute choked out. The boy just smirked, took a cloth and cleaned off the blood on his flute-sword.

"Because, those who travel alone on the roads filled with bandits and the like, would probably be skilled enough to defend themselves from multiple enemies. That and, most would try to avoid attacking those with dragon blood" the fighter gasped in surprise, and died quickly afterward with the feeling of extreme coldness.

"Stupid bandits, just because I'm a bard, doesn't mean I'm defenseless" the boy mumbled to himself while searching the corpses for anything of use or to sell, only finding a few gold pieces and their steel axes, which he could sell. The bard walked over to his pack, strapped it on, and continued on his path of wandering.

The teal haired bard took a wooden flute out of a case attached to his belt. This was a special flute; it was the same flute that served him during his first adventure against an evil druid trying to become highly powerful. Yes, this bard was one of the members of the group of mercenaries that served the current Marquess of Pherea. In fact, he is the brother of the current lady of Pherea. His name was Nils, one of the two "Children of Destiny". No longer did he look like a 14 year old child, instead looking more like a human of 18 years, and more refined then he was before.

"Hmmm…why didn't my danger sense kick in?" Nils wondered aloud. "Oh well, no use wondering about it, just need to keep wandering".

The young bard started to play a peaceful tune on his flute as he walked, keeping himself, and anyone who could hear the music, in high spirits. He continued walking down the road, not caring which direction he went, only to wander, that was the only way to satisfy his wanderlust. Only stopping when needed was an essential key to being a wanderer. He was getting low on supplies, he figured, basing it on how light his pack was getting.

A merchant caravan passed the young bard, all eyes watching the musician as they passed, astounded by the music being played. The hired mercenaries protecting the merchant caravan looked at the boy suspicious, not wanting to take any chances that they would loose pay because a kid thief took the merchants goods. Nils barely took notice to the caravan, being consumed in the creation of the musical notes coming from his flute. Deciding it was time to pick up his pace, Nils played a succession of notes, put his flute away, and started running, faster than normal for a person.

After running a while the bard slowed down to a walk, feeling the effects of going beyond his normal abilities by using a spell to move faster. Searching his surroundings for a possible place to stay, he noticed a castle in the distance and his brown eyes widened with recognition.

"Castle Caelin, haven't been there since Lady Lyn's wedding" the bard said to himself, and he found it not unusual to talk to oneself if they traveled alone. "I wonder how much Lyn had argued with Hector to have their wedding held in Caelin. She did have good reason though, that was when Lord Hausen wasn't well to leave Castle Caelin, and she wanted her grandfather there to see her get married. Course the marquess died soon later, from all the poison he's been given, and from that stab in the back from that….that…..spawned creature from hell!" Nils shuddered, thinking of one of his few torturers created by Nergal. Pushing his anger and fear away, he continued walking towards his source of shelter for the night. "Hopefully," he thought, "There will be someone who recognizes me there".

AN: Well the first chapter is done, sorry for it being so short, but it's above 1000 words, and that was my goal for this fic idea I came up with Friday. I made Nils a bard of DnD style, able to fight as well, and I'll have reasons for him being this good in later chapters. The sword was a design made by my friend for a bard I was making, which turned out to be a crappy bard. Link015, I hope your happy with this fic, it is for your contest after all. Anyway, read and review people. Hope you guys like it.


	2. Chapter 2

Well…I decided to write something different, hope you guys like it. I don't own Fire Emblem, or pretty much anything, so it is clearly not worth suing for. Most of my ideas will be coming from DnD, what a better place to get medieval type inspiration. Thank you RLnaruhina for being my only reviewer.

**Wanderlust**

Ch.2

Caelin castle, famous for easily being taken over by outside forces, though one was an internal dispute between brothers, one being the Marquess. Strangely enough, the castle had yet to be destroyed from all the battles it has had inside, and right outside of it. The castle still remained a beautiful structure with in the Caelin province, which had been turned over to Ostia a year or two after the battle of reckoning.

On the wall over the first gate, a soldier kept watch, though he hated the job with a passion. Nothing ever came, or if it did, he could care less who it was and send him or her away, unless it was a young girl, then he'd let her in only to try and woo her. Usually he would end up scaring them away, which brought him to think about his commander. He believed he was nothing like his commander, and despised the man for giving him the duty of watch. Breaking away from his thoughts, the soldier finally noticed a young lad, with unusually teal hair standing before the gate yelling to get his attention.

"What's your business" The soldier yelled at the boy monotonously, he could care less about travelers. He didn't get paid for his manners, or paid much at all.

"I was wondering if I could stay her for a bit, I'm a…" the soldier cut the boy off, having to deal with these kinds of situations in the past.

"This isn't an inn kid, it's a castle, that has a military, you wouldn't last a minute if the big guys got a hold of ya, that and we don't allow travelers or merchants in the castle anymore these days, not since that exploding caravan", the boy just grumbled, talking out loud to himself, but the soldier couldn't hear the teal haired traveler from where he was.

"May I talk with Kent, I'm sure he'd let me stay, he knows who I am", the boy yelled back up to the soldier. The soldier sighed, it was proceeding how it usually does, and he was going to give his standard reply.

"Kent is busy with politics, and any extra time he has he spends with his wife, I'm sure he wouldn't want to be disturbed with some guest he might not actually know", the boy had been angered by this statement, but calmed down immediately, and used another motive.

"Can I at least speak to Sain, your commander?" the boy asked. The guard clenched his teeth angrily at the mere mention of his commander, the womanizer known never to shut up, and who he was compared to time upon time upon time.

"Fine, I'll get commander for you, but if he doesn't know you, you're leaving" and the Soldier left to get his commander, whom he so despised. A couple minutes later, the soldier came back with a browned haired man who was known as Sain, or Commander of Caelin's military.

"So soldier, where's the boy you wanted me to see?" the soldier responded by pointing to the teal haired boy. Sain, in his trademark green armor looked over the fortified wall to see the boy the soldier was talking about.

"Eh? Nils! Is that you?" Nils smiled, 'at least someone remembered me', he thought.

"Yup, now could I at least come in, I'm tired of standing here", the bard yelled back up.

"Right, right……What are you standing there for!" the commander of Caelin's armed forces yelled at the gate guard, "Open up the gate for our guest". The soldier quickly complied, all the while mumbling his complaints about his commander. Using all his strength, the soldier pulled on the wheel that opens the gate, failed miserably, slipped and fell on his rear with a thud.

"Oh for Elibe's sake" Sain cursed, "Why do we only have one soldier on guard duty? It takes 5 men to open that gate. Soldier, get me a rope will ya?" The soldier yet again grumbled while he disappeared to get a rope.

"Sorry about this, it will only be a minute", the green armored paladin yelled down to the bard

"No worries" Nils yelled back up. "So how's Kent?"

"Kent's good, busy, but good. He has a wife now, oddly enough." Sain replied

"Heard about that, so who's the lucky lady?"

"The beauteous green-haired flower, Rebecca…" as soon as he finished his statement, Sain's face contorted in frustration and he slapped himself.

"Sir, I have the rope you wanted", the soldier said a bit angrily, but Sain took no heed to the bitterness and threw down one end of the rope.

"Climb on up, Nils" Sain yelled, tying the rope around one of the stone fortifications. Nils complied, climbing up the rope with ease, not even afraid of falling from the height of the wall.

"Well, lets get inside, I'd really like to here some stories, haven't been out on a trip since your sister's wedding. Soldier, continue your duties" Sain commanded.

"Yes sir!" the soldier hissed angrily at the person he hated the most, if he could have, he would have killed the man while he wasn't looking, but there was a witness, and he couldn't have that.

"So….when did Kent get married?" Nils asked as they walked down the halls of Caelin castle, Sain leading the way as Nils followed closely behind him.

"Hmmm… about 2 months ago, I really need to stop referring to his wife the way I refer to most women; it'll give people the wrong idea….a really bad idea, which might result in Kent kicking me out of Caelin. Kent's usually busy all the time, if not the politics and complaints of the people, he is busy spending time with his wife, not that I can blame him, he's become much happier since she came" Sain explained. They entered a plain room, containing a bed, a table with a few chairs, a cabinet, and some freshly picked flowers on the table.

"This is your room?" Nils asked curiously, it seemed a little plain for a person like Sain.

"Yup"

"You don't have any paintings of women, none at all?"

"I really need to get rid of my reputation, makes every situation worse, even Wil thinks I should have paintings everywhere" Sain said sadly. "So anyway, why don't you put you pack down and take a seat". The bard nodded, took off his pack and unstrapped his unusual weapon from his back.

"So you finally learned to fight huh, would have thought you'd give up after Wallace tried to teach you 5 years ago. Strange weapon though, but looks effective, how many laughed at you for pulling out a flute?" The brown haired man asked, grabbing a bottle of ale from the cabinet.

"Too many"

"Ah, well, can't help that, stupid fools. Ale?" Sain asked, pouring himself a large cupful.

"Sure" replied the boy. The paladin poured another cupful of ale and placed it on the table in front of Nils.

"Sorry it's not anything better, everything else is pretty much too expensive for the military, and I like to keep some alcohol handy. Anyway, why come here, didn't you go back to the Dragon Realm?"

"Well, I was kind of kicked out, and then I destroyed Dragon's Gate, so I can't and don't want to go back"

"Kicked out?" Sain questioned.

Nils stared down at his ale, pondering his answer. "Well, you know that I'm a Teal Dragon right?" Sain nodded in reply. "You see, Teal Dragons aren't an actual normal breed of dragons, there's very few of us because of this. We come from the mating of Silver and White Dragons, which isn't quite popular among dragons."

"White Dragons are for the most part, pure evil, while Silver Dragons are quite the opposite, lawfully good. But when this does happen it is left up to the young dragons to decide for themselves which side to go to. Both Ninian and I chose the side of good, which resulted in us being chased by the Clan of White Dragons, another reason for us coming to this world, and into more danger".

"And I'm guessing the only other person to know about this is Eliwood". Nils only nodded. "Okay, so, why tell me? I'm not even remotely close to being family" the green armored Paladin asked.

"Well I just felt like telling someone, that and, who would believe you if you told them, besides ex-members of the army?" the bard answered. Sain just smiled, and looked out the window of his room.

"You mind if I come with you on your journey?"

Nils' eyes widened in surprise and took a few seconds before replying. "Why would you want to do that?"

Sain turned away from the window, and gulped down the rest of his ale. "I need to travel again, it's very boring staying in this castle. Kent says I should leave this place before it gets even worse. Besides, I was thinking of going to Ilia anyway".

Nils laughed and smiled knowingly. "So which one? Fiora, Farina or Florina"

"Flor….." Sain answered too quickly and caught himself a bit too late. "I really have to watch my mouth don't I?" The bard laughed again and nodded.

"Well, if you plan on coming with me, well have to get you prepared. For instance, you're going to have to leave your title as Paladin behind, and your horse" Nils said.

Sain's head just dropped at hearing the last statement. "You mean I have to walk, what kind of woman would be attracted to that?" Nils laughed again. It was going to be an interesting journey.

A/N: Well, that was probably my longest chapter I've ever written…..maybe. Hope you guys enjoyed it, too bad there was no action. Let me know if I did anything wrong, I'll see if I can fix it. I definitely need to work on my Sainisms. There's your hint RLnaruhina. Alright until next everyone, and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Holidays, See Ya.


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